Category: Beekeeping

Honey Gate Wrench

When harvesting honey I use several five gallon buckets. The buckets I use have small gates in them to allow honey to pour out.

The internal nut is hexagonal and can be a headache to tighten or loosen by hand. I remove them for cleaning and storage.

So I designed a simple 55mm honey gate wrench that I 3D printed.

The files are on Thingiverse.

A hand holds a white plastic tool featuring a hexagonal nut shape over a white ceramic tiles in a kitchen.
A 3D-printed hexagonal wrench, fitted to a hexagonal nut on a honey gate inside a white 5 gallon bucket.
A 3D-printed hexagonal wrench next to honey gate with a hexagonal nut above a wooden floor.

The Yellow Hive got robbed out

The weak Yellow Hive got robbed out by another bee colony.

Robbing is when another colony comes and steals/eats the honey in a weak hive. I noticed the sign of chewed up wax cappings and did an inspection.

During the robbing here is some fighting, where bees die, but usually the remaining bees and queen abscond.  Absconding is when bees leave a hive because it’s unsuitable due to damage, moisture, mites, pests, or being robbed.  They fly off to find a new home. A low success rate for an already weak colony.

Yellow Hive Robbed Out – May 5th, 2026

The weak Yellow Hive got robbed out, meaning another bee colony came in and stole all their honey.